Beloved Students:—My heart has many rooms, one of these is sacred to the memory of my students. Into this upper chamber where all things are pure and of good report—into this sanctuary of Love I often retreat, sit silently, and think. In this chamber is memory's wardrobe, where I deposit certain recollections and collections once in each year. Here are my Christmas stores. They commemorate—not the Bethlehem babe—but the man of God, the risen Christ, and the adult Jesus. Here I deposit the gifts my dear students offer at the shrine of Christian Science, and to their lone leader. Here I talk once a year, and this is a bit of what I said in 1890: "O glorious Hope! O Mother Love! how you have thus grown to the sense of your children, because of their growth the past year—and how our Model, Christ, has grown to us all, and to this age! "
I look at the gifts, gold, silver, and perfume, then name some of my loved ones' offerings as follows: The most beautiful of all— the most delicate imitations of nature that art has etched, is the selections of Bicknell's original, satin proofs from Branch Association, No. 16, of Chicago. Then I look at Whittier's Birthplace, an oil painting by Bradford Sherman, beautifully framed—and wonder if ever poet and painter met more warmly with pen and brush in so frigid a scene as this illustration of the inimitable poem "Snow Bound." Next in order of coming are two silver colonge bottles, full of perfume, of rare design and beauty, on which my name is engraven—from mother and daughter of New York City. Also an exquisite little box containing the daintiest point lace collar and cuffs, from Wisconsin; a "Mexican-work" handkerchief from Minnesota; a point lace handkerchief from Colorado; a silk scarf from Missouri; a hand-painted, silk shopping-bag from Vermont; and many other beautiful things, too numerous to mention.A correction was made in the March 1890 Journal: "The — in second line of second paragraph of article entitled Christmas Offerings (Feb. issue), makes it appear that Mrs. Eddy discriminated between certain gifts received by her. This is a typographical error, the — not appearing in original manuscript."
The quality and number of presents were greater this year than ever; ranging in cash value from $500 down to sweet little tokens of friendship. These Christmas and New Year's mementoes were from my beloved students, representing all parts of the country.
